PROJECT SUMMARY Core B Core B, the Biochemical and Metabolic Services Core, will assist the projects in processes where specialized equipment and experienced personnel can greatly increase the efficiency and accuracy of results beyond that which could be achieved by the individual projects. These processes include proteomic, biochemical and metabolic assays carried out in vitro and in vivo as well as the development of genetic constructs to alter expression of candidate genes. The services performed by the Biochemical and Metabolic Profiling Core can be broken down into six broad categories: 1) Analysis of plasma samples; 2) Analysis of tissue samples; 3) In vivo metabolic/physiologic tests 4) Expression modulation to validate candidate genes 5) Proteomic analysis and 6) Specialized biochemical and metabolic analysis designed to address specific project needs. The methods and assays employed have all been fully implemented and used successfully by our experienced personnel. This core strongly interacts with all the projects and with Core C (the Database, Computing and Statistics Core ) and has served as a vital component of the PPG for the past 20 years.